The official blog of the Washington Nationals. Contact us at curlyw@nationals.com

February 2013

As some of you know, we held a contest in the run-up to NatsFest encouraging fans to nominate the Jr. Nationals MVP in their life for a shot at a free membership for the 2013 season. Well, after pouring over well more than 100 entries, we finally picked our winners. And while the winning entries were excellent, we were most inspired to see just how much energy each of you out there put into nominating the Jr. Nationals fans with whom you enjoy the great game of baseball here in The District.

Particularly over the past year, Paige has grown to become a huge Nats fan. She’s quickly picked up on the intricacies of the game: strike zones, switch hitting, ground rule doubles. She keeps score at games. She follows injured players’ progress as they rehab and prep for a return to the big leagues. Over the winter, every day or two she asks if there have been any roster moves. Like so many of us, she shed a tear reading about Michael Morse being traded. I was so excited to break a rule and let her stay out late on a school night to go to an NLCS game with me. Then, well, you know what came next… What pleased me most is what I cannot confess to her or to my wife. Shortly after bedtime, Paige will often creep into our bedroom and complain that she doesn’t feel well. Don’t worry about her health; she’s faking. It only happens when I’m in there watching the Nats. She’s just looking for an excuse to check the score. If that’s not worthy of MVP status, I’m not sure what is.

Benjamin, nominated by Eric

I wasn’t sure how my 8-year-old son Benjamin would react after watching the Nats lose Game 5 to the Cardinals in heartbreaking fashion. We were at the stadium that night, and he refused to miss even a second of the game. Instead, to the delight of everyone around us, he announced each National to the plate, as if he had the mic. Every time a Nationals pitcher had a two-strike count, he stood on his chair and waved his towel. Not surprisingly, there were a few tears after the game. The question was, after watching his heroes come up short, how long would the hurt last? The answer came just a few days later. We were in the car when he spoke up from the backseat. “You know what, Dad?” he said. “We had one inning of saditude, but we had a whole season of Natitude!” That’s why Benjamin deserves to be a Jr. Nationals Kids Club MVP.

And as if you didn’t already know, pitchers and catchers report to Viera on Tuesday…

While this year’s Washington roster seems mostly set, it is important not to underestimate the potential impact of Non-Roster Invitees on the structure of the club that will break camp at the end of March. Sandy Leon, Carlos Maldonado, Rick Ankiel, Corey Brown and Brett Carroll all played small roles for the Nationals in 2012, and Chad Tracy – yes that Chad Tracy – was himself an NRI last year. Tracy staked his claim as one of the best pinch-hitters in the game and earned a contract extension for 2013 near the end of last season.

The Nationals announced three more additions to their list of Major League Spring Training Non-Roster Invitees this week, adding Jeremy Accardo, Micah Owings and Chris Snyder. All three have interesting storylines or ties to the organization, but perhaps none is more compelling than that of Owings, who came to terms with Washington on Wednesday.

Owings has always been known for his bat, and will report to Viera as a position player.

For those unfamiliar with his Major League exploits, Owings is most well known as one of the best hitting pitchers in baseball over the past six seasons. While his career ledger on the mound is 32-33 with a 4.86 ERA in 138 appearances (68 starts), he has batted .283 (58-for-205) with an eye-popping .503 slugging percentage. To put that in perspective, only Ian Desmond, Adam LaRoche and Tyler Moore (and Jhonatan Solano, in limited time) posted a higher slugging mark for the Nats last season than Owings’ career line.

His first season was his best, as he posted a .333/.349/.683 line to win the National League’s Silver Slugger Award in 2007, the same hardware Stephen Strasburg laid claim to last year. However, the 30-year-old Owings has shown enough continued promise at the plate that he will now attempt the same transformation as former National Rick Ankiel, moving from the mound to become a hitter.

“He’s worn all of the opposing clubs out at one point or another,” said Nationals Assistant General Manager Bryan Minniti of Owings. “So if you’ve seen the guy swing the bat the last couple of years, you’re intrigued. He’s a decent athlete as well.”

As you may remember, Ankiel had a pair of very strong seasons in his first two years after making the switch, hitting 36 home runs and driving in 110 over 167 games, posting a very comparable line to that of Owings, batting .270 with a .515 slugging percentage. Like Ankiel in 2007, Owings plans to focus entirely on his future as a hitter from here on out.

“We’re going to give him a go as a position player and see what happens,” explained Minniti. “We’re committed to it. He’s committed to it. We’ve got a couple of people here who know him from the past, including our hitting coordinator Rick Schu.”

Snyder, another former Diamondback, has experience catching Dan Haren.

Of course, just as he knows Chad Tracy (another player he drafted with Arizona) going into last year, Nationals EVP of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo is very familiar with Owings. He was in charge of the Diamondbacks’ drafts when Arizona selected the Gainesville, Georgia native in the third round of the 2005 First-Year Player Draft. Likewise, Rizzo was at the helm of the draft when his former organization selected Snyder back in 2002, the catcher the Nationals acquired earlier this week.

Snyder brings veteran depth with a decent eye (with a career on-base percentage 104 points above his batting average) and a little pop (hitting double digit home runs three times) to the Washington catching corps. The former Diamondback, Pirate and Astro provides a little extra insurance behind the plate as Wilson Ramos completes his rehab process heading into Spring Training.

“We like to go to camp with the proper amount of catching, and we felt like we wanted to add one more,” said Minniti of the Snyder addition. “We’ve got a couple of young guys that are very capable, but it just gives us a little more flexibility, having a good veteran to compete.”

A right-handed reliever, Accardo is the only one of the late additions who hasn’t played previously under Rizzo. However, he provides the Nationals with an interesting statistical note, as the fourth pitcher entering camp with a season of at least 30 saves under his belt in his career. While the former Blue Jay and Giant accomplished that feat back in 2007, he nevertheless merits inclusion with Tyler Clippard, Rafael Soriano and Drew Storen as the only such foursome reporting to a Major League camp this year.

As you may have noticed, MLB.com released its Top 20 prospects for each team earlier this week as part of its MLB Pipeline debut. There should be a number of names familiar to many Nationals fans, as the Top 10 on the list closely parallels that of the Baseball America rankings filed just a few weeks ago. The BA rankings came out prior to Washington’s reacquisition of A.J. Cole, who would have (as we can figure out through deductive reasoning, by his appearance as the fourth and final Nationals prospect on the overall Top 100) ranked in the top five. As such, seven of the same players appear among the 10 on each list.

Here is the full list of MLB.com’s Top 20, complete with links for those to whom we have already showcased one way or another within the last calendar year.

OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE NATIONALS

Welcome to Curly W Live, the official blog of the Washington Nationals. With player interviews, special features and other unique, behind-the-scenes content, this is your exclusive window to all things Nationals all year round.

Meta

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.